Smartwatches may be all the rage, but there’s a sneaky wearable competitor that is making a splash in 2024: The fitness ring. It’s a part of the new wave of smart rings that can discreetly track your health data.
Fitness rings are a more subtle and lightweight form of wellness tracking. Thanks to built-in sensors that measure things like heart rate and blood oxygen levels, fitness rings enable users to track their health and improve their fitness without needing to open their phone or — in some cases — to wait solely on medical test results. Plus, instead of presenting a screen interface, fitness rings connect via a smartphone app, making for a more distraction-free approach to health and technology. So why should you trust me? I’ve been using three different fitness rings as I train for my first-ever half marathon, so the rings I list below have been tested on many runs, walks, and cross-training days.
Also: The best fitness trackers
What is the best fitness ring right now?
Our pick for best fitness ring overall is the ever-popular Oura Ring Gen 3 Horizon, thanks to its comprehensive health suite, ease of wear, nice material, and battery life. With Samsung’s Galaxy Ring recently being revealed and many other companies throwing their hats in ring (pun intended) to ride the smart ring wave, we’ll continue to test out all of the new fitness rings on the market, and will update this list with buying advice. Read on to find out how all of the leading fitness ring options on the market compare to choose the best fitness ring for you.
The best fitness rings of 2024
Pros
- Best sleep tracking on the market
- Tracks steps and active calories
- Heart rate monitor sensors to see how your workout was
Cons
- Pricey — and a monthly membership is also required
- Battery life can vary
- Tarnishes easily
Oura Ring Gen 3 Horizon specs: Sizing: 6-13 | Material: Durable titanium and PVD coating | Colors: Silver, black, stealth, gold, rose gold | Water resistance: Up to 328 feet | Sensors: Heart rate, blood oxygen, PPG, skin temperature, 3D accelerometer | Connectivity: Bluetooth Low-Energy, Airplane Mode | Battery: Up to seven days
The Oura Ring is one of the most popular fitness rings on the market, offering four different color options and various sizes to choose from. I’ve been wearing the Horizon Oura Ring for about a month as I train for a half marathon, and I’m more than happy with its fitness features. You can record your workout heart rate on the app, and view your activity score, your inactive time, and calories burned. And then the next day, you get a glance at your recovery scores to see how you bounced back from your intense workout. As it gets to know you, it can detect which activities you perform, whether that’s running, walking, pickleball or tennis playing.
The ring is known for its exceptional sleep tracking. It provides insightful data that surpasses what you would receive from a Fitbit or the best smart rings. For instance, it displays your HRV balance, temperature changes during sleep (which can be used to predict menstrual cycles), blood oxygen levels, and the duration of each sleep stage.
In addition to its impressive sleep tracking, the Oura Ring excels in activity tracking. It monitors your steps, calories burned (including active calories), heart rate during exercise, and training volume. One new feature that separates Oura from other fitness rings is its resilience feature, which measures how well you bounce back from stress. Another fun Oura feature that runners will love is the ability to sync your Strava data to Oura and vice versa. When you record a run on the running app, it will immediately import into the Oura app. This is a life saver for me, an avid runner, who sometimes forgets to start recording on one app before my run.
Review: Is the Oura Ring worth buying in 2024?
In 2022, Oura introduced the Horizon model, which removes the flat spot at the top of the ring to make it entirely round like a regular ring. You can opt for the Heritage model, which starts at $299, or the new Horizon model which starts at $349. One downside to note is its tendency to gain scratches and scrapes. Many Reddit users say that while the Oura Ring does sleep tracking well, the ring comes at a hefty price that may or may not be worth it to some.
Pros
- Great health data metrics
- Perfect for hardcore athletes
- AI insights are actually helpful
Cons
- Ring gets pretty hot on your finger right after charging
- App user experience is not intuitive
Ultrahuman Ring Air specs: Sizing: 5-14 | Material: Titanium coated with Tungsten Carbide Carbon | Colors: Matte grey, Aster black, space silver, bionic gold | Water resistance: Up to 330 feet | Sensors: Infrared Photoplethysmography (PPG) sensor, Non-contact medical-grade skin temperature sensor, 6-axis motion sensors, Red LEDs (heart rate monitoring and oxygen saturation) Green LEDs (heart rate monitoring) Infrared LEDs (heart rate monitoring) | Connectivity: Bluetooth Low-Energy | Battery: Up to six days
I can confirm that anybody who cares about their fitness routine and optimizing every aspect of their workout and recovery game will find the Ultrahuman Ring Air extremely helpful. The ring monitors all the good stuff: activity, sleep, and recovery. Plus, it prioritizes comfort and a sleek build that doesn’t tarnish easily or interfere with the rote tasks of your day, like carrying heavy bags, washing hands and dishes, and showering.
What’s cool about the Ultrahuman Ring Air is the notifications you get during or after your activity. For example, I went on a run with this ring one morning, and after my workout was complete it notified me to delay any caffeine for around an hour to allow the adenosine I built up from my run to flush out of my system. Later in the day, it reminded me to stretch my legs to recover from the morning’s run and relieve tension.
You can also document your diet, while the ring’s app offers you AI insights into the health information behind each food you’re eating. Some of the data becomes excessive, but I can imagine that anyone who is all-in on optimizing their lifestyle for marathon training or some other fitness goal will find the information Ultrahuman offers useful. Plus, there is a Discover tab on the app with guided workouts for everything from pilates, high intensity interval training, vinyasa yoga, and more.
The battery life is on par with Oura’s, as I charged both up at the same time and found that they run out of juice within hours of each other (about six days). And unlike the Oura Ring, which seemingly scratches when in contact with abrasive material, the Ultrahuman has maintained its sheen, sans scratches. I don’t have trouble recommending this ring to health-minded individuals honing their workout and recovery regimen. Plus, unlike Oura, the Ultrahuman Ring Air doesn’t come with the price of a monthly subscription.
Redditors say that the Ultrahuman Ring Air is on par with Oura, but the rings overall aren’t as effective at fitness tracking as a smartwatch or chest strap. The care and drive for improvement with this ring is palpable: Upon reading user reviews on Reddit, I’ve noticed that Ultrahuman’s founder, Mohit Kumar, is on these threads interacting with users who leave reviews or ask questions about the product — not something I’ve seen before.
Pros
- Charger can power your ring for up to 150 days
- No fees attached to ring
- Helpful features and insights
Cons
- No readiness score
- Doesn’t integrate other health data like Apple, Garmin, or Polar
RingConn Smart Ring tech specs: Sizing: 6-14 | Material: Titanium | Colors: Silver, black, gold | Water resistance: IP68 waterproof rating | Sensors: Heart rate, blood oxygen, 3D accelerometer, temperature sensors, four PPG sensors | Connectivity: Bluetooth | Battery: Seven days
RingConn offers the best of Oura without the hefty subscription fee attached to it. The RingConn smart ring is an upfront cost of $279, and that’s it. The ring comes with a portable charging case that contains a 500 mAh charger, capable of charging the ring’s battery for up to 150 days.
When ZDNET’s Matt Miller reviewed the ring, he complimented RingConn’s stress tracking features and a wellness balance feature that assesses your sleep, activity, vital signs, and stress to get a more holistic picture of your health. The suite of features made Miller so impressed that he considered switching to RingConn as his primary smart ring over the Oura Ring.
“I was much more impressed with the RingConn Smart Ring than I expected to be; it’s great to see such compelling competition in the smart ring space,” Miller said. Some users say that the ring has impeccable data accuracy, but they’d like to see better activity tracking measures.
More: RingConn takes on Oura with its impressive subscription-free smart ring
Pros
- Medical-grade data
- Sleep, activity, and menstrual cycle tracking
- Personalize your goals and activity progress over time
Cons
- Made for women only
- Battery life is shorter than other option on this list
- No sleep or activity scores provided
Movano Evie Ring specs: Sizing: 5-11 | Material: Liquid metal | Colors: Silver, rose gold, gold | Water resistance: Up to 1 meter | Sensors: Heart rate, heart rate variability, SpO₂, skin temperature, and active metabolic calorie burn | Connectivity: Bluetooth | Battery: Around four days
Movano’s upcoming Evie Ring made its debut at CES 2023, and it is set to become the first wearable fitness tracker to be FDA-certified as a medical device, possibly even as a licensed pulse oximeter. It is also the first fitness ring designed specifically for women’s health.
Also: The best fitness apps
The Evie Ring offers “actionable insights” to help women understand the reasons behind their physical and emotional states. Movano claims that the ring can even “mood track.” Through its skin temperature sensors, the ring can predict menstrual cycles and ovulation, providing an additional layer of insight into women’s health.
The user interface on the app is fun and quirky. I could tell that Evie is trying to appeal to a younger, female audience with its graphics, data delivery, and app language. Out of all the rings I’ve worn, this is by far the most stylish. Its arrow-like design stands out against the other rings, and I’ve gotten a few compliments on it so far. This is clearly a ring designed for young, trendy, and health data-driven women.
In addition to its unique features, the Evie Ring also offers a standard activity profile, displaying total steps taken, continuous movement stats, and calorie output. You don’t get sleep, activity, or recovery scores, which is a bummer since those ratings can help you easily understand how your slumber or workout was. I use it to record my workouts, where it can document your heart rate, distance, step count, duration, and calories burned. Because the battery life is shorter, however, certain features are closed off if the battery is too low, so you’ll want to make sure to charge the ring before logging your workouts and performing spot checks.
The Oura Ring Gen 3 Horizon is our overall pick for the best fitness ring when you want a stylish but reliable fitness ring. The companion app helps you keep an eye on your fitness, and it is especially notable for its sleep-tracking accuracy. Here is a look at the best fitness rings and how they compare in material, water resistance, price, and more.
Our goal was to provide a wide variety of options based on pricing and purposes. That way if you’re an avid swimmer or need a fitness ring with vibrating alerts, we have you covered.
| Name | Price | Material | Colors | Water Resistance | Sensors | Connectivity | Battery | Sizing |
| Oura Ring Gen 3 Horizon | $299 | Durable titanium and PVD coating | Silver, black, stealth, gold, rose gold | Up to 328 feet for 30 minutes | Heart rate, blood oxygen, PPG, skin temperature, 3D accelerometer | Bluetooth Low-Energy, Airplane | Up to seven days | 6-13 |
| Ultrahuman Ring Air | $349 | Titanium | Matte grey, Aster black, space silver, bionic gold | Up to 330 feet | Heart rate, blood oxygen, skin temperature | Bluetooth Low-Energy | Up to six days | 5-14 |
| RingConn Smart Rin | $279 | Titanium | Silver, black, gold | IP68 | Heart rate, blood oxygen, 3D accelerometer, temperature sensors, four PPG sensors | Bluetooth Low-Energy | Up to seven days | 6-14 |
| Movano Evie Ring | $269 | Liquid metal | Silver, rose gold, gold | Up to 1 meter | Heart rate, heart rate variability, SpO₂, skin temperature, and active metabolic calorie burn | Bluetooth | Up to five days | 5-11 |
*Lowest price at the time of writing. Please note that prices may vary based on retailer and available promotions, sales, or discounts.
After a while, all the fitness rings can begin to blur together during your search. That is why we offer our expert recommendations on how to find the best fitness ring for your personal needs, based on our testing.
| Choose this fitness ring... | If you want… | |
| Oura Ring Gen 3 Horizon | A stylish but reliable fitness ring. Its exceptional sleep tracking features provide insightful data such as HRV balance, temperature changes, and blood oxygen levels during sleep, which are superior to other fitness rings. Additionally, the Oura Ring tracks steps and active calories, and it is equipped with heart rate sensors to monitor workout progress. Plus, it pairs with Strava to sync your running data. | |
| Ultrahuman Ring Air | A smart ring designed for fitness junkies and anyone who wants to optimize their workout and recovery. The helpful AI in the app provides recommendations on when to consume caffeine, when to stretch your legs after a workout, and what to eat to prevent glucose spikes. | |
| Ringconn Smart Ring | A good alternative to the Oura Ring with many of the same features and no additional subscription. The ring offers stress tracking and wellness features for a holistic picture of your health. Our reviewer even said he was considering swapping his Oura Ring for the RingConn ring. | |
| Movano Evie Ring | A fitness ring built for women. It uses skin sensors to track menstrual cycles and ovulation, gives insight on emotional states, and provides the standard activity profile that tracks total steps, movement, and calorie output. This is the most aesthetically appealing ring on the list, but its battery life is the least competitive. |
Before you purchase a fitness ring, you should consider the following important factors.
- Price: A good fitness ring is going to cost you a chunk of money. Most fitness rings are around $250 to $450, depending on the brand and the material you get (the silver and slate colors tend to cost less than the gold and rose gold colors). Some rings also require a monthly subscription.
- Battery: If you are paying $300 for a ring, it should last you at least four or five days. Most of the competitive rings on the market last longer than that, at around six or seven.
- In-app experience: Because smart rings don’t have screens, the ring is only as good as its app is for delivering helpful information. You should get everything you need to know packed in your app, like sleep, activity, and recovery data. The app should be easy to use, and the best apps offer insightful articles on how to get further use out of your ring.
- Comfort and wear: Because this is going around your finger, the fitness ring needs to be comfortable to wear, especially as you sleep, move, or exercise.
- Data delivery: The fitness ring should deliver health data that you can understand even if you aren’t a medical pro.
I went hands-on with most of the fitness rings on this list to consider whether the rings I include were worth their expensive price.
Three fitness rings are on my hands right now as I write this. In my testing, I shower, cook, clean, exercise, and socialize with these rings on, and I observe how my activity impacts the data of each ring, and how the rings compare to one another. Plus, as a half marathon trainer, I am running around four times a week and using my rings to aggregate my health data as I exercise, so you can trust that I have put these rings through the ultimate test and ran many miles with them on.
We test these fitness rings in real-world situations focusing on features, design and comfort, performance, battery life, and overall value. For products we recommend, we write a product spotlight review that we update periodically with new features and pricing information.
A fitness ring is also known as a smart ring. Similar to a smartwatch, this is an electronic device that you wear around your finger to monitor your health and activity. It uses sensors and special chips to track and store your information. Some models offer water resistance so you can wear them as you swim, while others provide alerts via vibration for alarms, personal reminders, and more.
Similar to smart watches, smart rings track your health data through the sensors embedded on the inside of the ring. Unlike smart watches, they are far more discreet and don’t have a screen. Most of the data that is collected on a smart ring is viewable on its coinciding app, where the person wearing the ring can learn insights into their sleep, stress, and activity data.
That really depends on if you’re a watch person or a ring person. The Apple Watch lets you see all your stats on the watch itself and has features like texting and streaming music.
On the other hand, the Oura Ring is more of an ambient technology that you forget you’re wearing. You have to go into the app to get your stats, and it doesn’t have any fancy notifications. However, the Oura Ring will track your sleep more accurately than the Apple Watch, and it’s comparable to Apple Watch’s activity tracking.
Fitness rings can provide reasonably accurate data on health metrics like heart rate, steps taken, and sleep patterns. However, the accuracy of each metric can vary depending on the specific device and the quality of the sensors used. It’s essential to choose a fitness ring with reliable sensor technology and to keep in mind that no wearable device can provide perfect accuracy in tracking health metrics.
The fitness ring market is small, but it is growing. There aren’t many other options to choose from at the moment, but we’d recommend checking out these picks as well.
